The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has decided to restrict media ownership after a week of hearings in 2007, unveiling a new policy that does not allow private broadcasting companies to control more than two types of media in the same market. The new rule applies to local newspapers, local television stations and local radio stations.

The CRTC is also limiting future acquisitions to ensure a transaction does not result in one media company controlling more than 45 percent of total audience share. New rules will also prevent one broadcast distribution company from controlling the delivery of programming in one market, according to Canwest News Service.

The public hearings were held last year due to several billion-dollar deals between CTVglobemedia, which owns the CTV network, the Globe and Mail newspaper and CHUM Ltd, a radio and television broadcaster.

“The trend toward greater consolidation in the broadcasting industry has raised concerns that a large ownership group could achieve a dominant position through acquisitions, which could bring about a reduction in the diversity of local, regional and national content,” the CRTC said in a statement Tuesday that accompanied the release of its new rules.

Two large deals last year involved Canwest Global Communications Corp.'s $2.3 billion acquisition of TV operator Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc., with partner Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Canwest also owns newspapers across the country, including the National Post. However, newspapers that are not considered to be local, such as the Post and the Globe and Mail, are exempt from the new rules.

Another landmark deal last year was Astral Media Inc.'s $1.08 billion purchase of Standard Broadcasting.

Adam Shine, media analyst at National Bank Financial told Canwest News Service that it “doesn't look like anyone in Canada is affected by this; neither Canwest nor Quebecor Media own any radio assets ... As for CTVglobemedia, they own a national newspaper, not a local newspaper.”